Functionality

The MSI P6N SLI Platinum being based on a rather advanced chipset, most of the mainboard’s functionality is implemented through the Nvidia nForce 650i SLI. We discussed the chipset in our article called Nvidia nForce 650i SLI Chipset and only $130: ASUS P5N-E SLI Mainboard Review and won’t dwell upon its capabilities here. The following flowchart of the MSI P6N SLI Platinum makes it clear what and how everything works on this mainboard.

The flowchart shows that MSI added to the functionality offered by the nForce 650i SLI by installing two additional controllers. These are a VIA VT6308P chip that supports the mainboard’s two IEEE1394 ports and a Silicon Image SiI3531 chip that supports the mainboard’s single external eSATA port. The VT6308P is connected via an ordinary PCI bus whereas the SiI3531 works via PCI Express x1, making it possible to use SATA II hard disk drives almost at the full theoretical bandwidth of the interface.

The mainboard’s audio section makes use of another additional chip. It is an eight-channel High-Definition codec Realtek ALC888 that adds to the chipset’s audio capabilities. This codec supports a number of modern technologies and features a good DAC with a signal-to-noise ratio of 97dB. Yet this solution is still inferior to Analog Devices codecs and to standalone audio cards in terms of stability and has problems with EAX 2.0 that show up in some games, according to user reports.

You can see two more interesting chips on board. One is MSI’s exclusive Dual CoreCell chip which is responsible for dynamic overclocking, system monitoring, and intelligent control over fan speeds. The other is a rather rare Fintek F71882FG chip that complements the functionality of the Dual CoreCell and supports legacy ports (PS/2, FDD, parallel and serial ports).

You can control the Dual CoreCell feature from Windows by means of the Dual CoreCenter program.

This program allows to monitor and adjust main system parameters like FSB frequency, CPU and memory voltages, fan speeds, etc. Besides that, Dual CoreCenter can be used for dynamic overclocking and supports predefined profiles corresponding to different system usage models. Unfortunately, Dual CoreCenter is not very stable. It can hang your system up and be the cause of all manner of failures. This is why advanced users often shun such software, however useful it may seem.

In addition to the above-mentioned features, the MSI P6N SLI Platinum supports USB 2.0 and Serial ATA-300 interfaces which are implemented entirely through the chipset’s South Bridge, the nForce 430 MCP. Thanks to this chip, the mainboard offers eight USB 2.0 ports and four SATA ports, which support NCQ, RAID levels 0, 1, 0+1 and 5, and a data-transfer rate of 3Gbps. The nForce 430 MCP is also responsible for the mainboard’s two Parallel ATA-133 ports and a single LAN port with a bandwidth of 1Gbps.

There are some peculiar things about the mainboard’s basic functionality. Contrary to Nvidia’s official nForce 650i SLI specification, MSI declares that its P6N SLI Platinum mainboard supports all LGA775 CPUs, including upcoming models with a 1333MHz FSB. This declaration must be valid because the manufacturer’s website lists the upcoming Core 2 Duo E6750 and E6850 models among CPUs tested for compatibility with the mainboard.

The MSI P6N SLI Platinum offers two pairs of DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM. The slots are color-coded in an uncommon way: you should insert your memory modules into different-color slots to make them work in dual-channel mode.

A small red sticker on the mainboard box raises some apprehensions about its compatibility with DDR2 SDRAM modules. It recommends choosing memory modules basing on the MSI approved memory module vendor list. Such recommendations often imply potential problems with certain DDR2 SDRAM modules. Running a little ahead, we should acknowledge we did not have any problems using popular memory kits from Corsair and OCZ.

The SLI suffix in the name of the mainboard means that it can work with one as well as two graphics cards joined by means of SLI technology. There are two physical PCI Express x16 slots on the PCB for that. The second slot is enabled manually by changing the position of a switch card located between the slots. In the single-card mode the second PCI Express x16 does not work. When the SLI mode is activated, the slots work as PCI Express x8.

Summing it up, the MSI P6N SLI Platinum offers almost the same functionality as the ASUS P5N-E SLI, another nForce 560i SLI-based mainboard we have tested earlier. The only difference is the implementation of the audio section: the ASUS mainboard uses a six-channel Realtek ALC883.